Jaime Lyn Beatty – Ginny
Jaime Lyn Beatty has played Ginny in all three Very Potter shows, as well as a memorable Rita Skeeter in A Very Potter Sequel. A resident of Chicago, she has been involved in every musical that StarKid has produced, and as one of the group’s strongest vocalists, she has been a featured performer on both StarKid live tours. She is currently a cast member in Airport For Birds, StarKid’s new sketch comedy show which recently extended its run at Chicago’s legendary Second City, and after a successful Kickstarter campaign, Jaime is producing her first solo EP, Dolphin Safe Tunes.
We know the concept of a third show has existed for a long time, but what were your thoughts or feelings when it was decided that it was going into production?
It was always something that was talked about, as though it would happen in a dream world, kind of in our next lives. Because – if you know the history of how the group got together, we never mean to do anything on purpose. All of our luck kind of happens through accident. Beautiful accidents, but what’s so funny is even the initial Very Potter Musical, that never was supposed to exist past the performances we did at the Walgreen Drama Studio, which were four regular runs of the show, like any other show at Basement Arts, nor was it supposed to exist in a filmed form.
When we did Sequel, we actually had a little cast get-together because we always usually convene right before a show and do a little warm up and little speech before every show, and I remember when we were doing the sequel back at Michigan, everyone had come back from all over the country, and we gathered around and we were like, “Well guys, this is the last time we’re doing the Harry Potter franchise, we’re never going to be exploring these books again, we can finally say goodbye to these books and to this musical we’ve created and this Sequel is the final show…” You’ll even notice at the end of the sequel, we tie up the whole plot as though the story is over.
So to me, it’s funny, I think the show has had three deaths, and I think what made Senior Year so bittersweet when we did finally actually did get the word that we were doing it is it really was like, “Okay, this time there are no more books to span and we haven’t left out any plot and we really have covered every single thing,” and this, quite literally, is the last time we can do it because of the circumstances with Darren, and with people living all over the place and everyone being involved, so it really was the final time: this is really the end, and it was so surreal, to be honest. It’s a crazy process, I still kind of feel like I’m living in a dream and it’s been the longest four-year dream in the world. I have no doubt that I will be very sad, I mean, I cried, we all cried, especially the people who had been involved with it from the very beginning; on the last day of the show there was not a dry eye backstage afterwards. It’s just touching. For us, it represents our friendships and saying goodbye to our college life more than anything.
Was your core group in Chicago working on the show for a longer period than just that one weekend? What kind of preparation was done, and how or when did it change from just the reading to this bigger production?
It was always supposed to be a table read, and it was never supposed to be anything beyond just us sitting around doing a reading of the script without any choreography or any costumes; very low key. I think the actors all wanted to put it on for real, but everybody eventually realised it would be impossible to do. But as far as I know, it was kind of last minute – almost an afterthought. The Lang brothers, when they do something, it’s all or nothing, and so they kind of went about it as though it was a table read up until three weeks before then they were like, “Who are we kidding, we’re doing a full show!”
I remember coming to the boys’ house and they’d made this giant basilisk puppet that was like, I don’t even know, eight feet long? I was like, “Wait, how are we even going to hold this, we’re holding our scripts, no one is off-book!” They – sort of joking but also maybe slightly serious – said, “Oh… so we’ve decided not to make this a table read any more, so if you can be off-book in a week, that would be great also.” And then we found out we were doing full costumes… I think it really lit a strange fire under peoples’ bottoms because we were suddenly like, oh, you made costumes and puppets for this? Last time I checked I was supposed to be holding a book in my hand. I think we were all pretty much rushing, quite literally, at the last minute, to try to be as off-book as possible, because as an actor, once you see there are all these other elements in a show… I at least get nervous because I’m going to look an idiot actor just holding a script if I have all these beautiful costumes and puppets competing for stage time with me. I’ll look like a silly person. So that was an interesting element.
More on the intricate props Team StarKid created for ‘Senior Year’:
“The Langs go through so many details. It’s not like they just made a basilisk puppet. They made a basilisk puppet that had to be puppeted by five people, and it had light-up eyes. Something like light-up eyes is such a minor detail that would be specific for staging, I doubt anyone could even tell, in that environment… You know what I mean? Every single detail. There’s not a single detail that was spared for any prop or from anything. That’s what it is. It’s kind of sad, because I think we all do wish that we had actually been able to put it on or had the opportunity to do it properly, not so much in a hotel – all the props and costuming lent itself well enough to that, but I don’t know – maybe we’ll put the props on display in a museum or something! A StarKid museum!”
What was the energy like, finalizing the show right there in the hotel, in such a short time period and with all the fans running around?
We all just went to a place of adrenaline; we were just high on the adrenaline of doing it so there was no time to even worry, it’s just one of those things that you kind of have to do, no matter what. The thing that was funniest, because we were in the middle of the convention, was the night before the opening of the show, the wizard rock concert was going on. We were practicing in the giant ballroom downstairs, and the wizard rock concert was happening above us and, whatever song was being played, people were jumping on the floor of the main ballroom above, and the chandeliers were literally shaking like there was an earthquake. We couldn’t stop because we had to get through the show, but every time someone was off-stage waiting for a cue or something, we avoided that room because we’d look in and we literally thought the ceiling was going to crash in on us. We had to move to another space because we thought the ceiling was falling, so we moved out into the corridor hallway. That was one thing – we thought we were all going to die from falling shards of chandelier glass.
The energy was very palpable. That’s the thing – I think we forget, I forget, just how large and immense the fan-base is and how supportive they are because everything we’ve done we’ve been very isolated from our fans. When you watch any of our shows, as an audience member, you’re only really there with you and the screen, and so when we suddenly saw all of the supporters and fans and people just come to life and we saw them in the thousands waiting to see the show it suddenly just all connected and put faces behind these computer screens.
You said there’s been that disconnect – did that feeling change, for you, before or after the performance? How did you feel about the fan response at LeakyCon?
It’s funny, I can’t even remember the beginning or end of LeakyCon, it all bleeds together. Mostly because we didn’t get any sleep and were eating one meal a day. Everyone was so supportive. It’s just as incredible for us to meet them as it is for them to be there and see us. Team StarKid and the whole StarKid community is not just us, the performers and the creators, StarKid as a whole is an entire fan community – everyone’s a StarKid. I think it was a reunion on that level, too, as we were meeting the people who’d been along with us on the journey for the past four years. So it was a reunion for everyone. It was beautiful.
Your day-to-day lives are not the exactly lives of “famous people,” but when you go to these places like fan conventions, it’s crazy; you are the big stars, you need minders. What is it like to experience that dichotomy?
I don’t think I’ll ever get used to it, I don’t think any of us will, but it comes from a place of so much gratitude. The word ‘celebrity’ – that doesn’t really mean anything to me even among people you would normally call celebrity; when we met the Game of Thrones people, or hung out with Sean Astin a whole bunch, he’s just a person. It’s hard to be thought of as stepping into a different world, because I’m still the same person that I am at any other time. It is weird because, again, you forget that behind the computer screen there are these thousands of people who have watched your work. What is so incredible is when you finally get to see them face to face it makes you realise just how immense everyone is together as a community.
Jaime Lyn’s reflection on working with new and old members of the StarKid cast for ‘Senior Year’:
“It’s always beautiful… it is strange because there were some people who came back who’d only been involved with one show and it wasn’t even any of the Harry Potter stuff, so I think it was definitely extra-special and strange for people like Lauren [Lopez] and Julia [Albain] and Nick Lang and Joe Moses and Joe Walker and the group of us that was in the original show. It was especially crazy to be in that group that knew the really grassroots place it started in and then see everyone along the journey.
“I’ve been fortunate to have been in every single StarKid production that has happened, so for me it was a huge reunion, whereas some people had been in StarKid shows separately and this event was the first time they were meeting. Alle-Faye [Monka] was only with us for Me And My Dick and she and Lauren had never met, so it was one of those things where they were in the same world but that was the first time that they were in a show together. There was a lot of that. It was a strange reunion but we were all tied there for one reason. It was beautiful, and I think it was wonderful that everyone got the extended invite because it just goes to show that StarKid is greater than just any one person and it’s the sum of its parts working together that makes it so intense and wonderful.”
What was your favourite memory of the whole weekend?
My favourite moment was – I have a video of it on my phone – when we were singing “Everything Ends,” we were all literally crying. I just made sure to look everyone in the eye, I was almost taking it in as an observer the whole time because, it’s kind of like watching a child you’ve had grow up. I took so many moments, even backstage, where I was like, wow, I’ve known this person so long and I remember seeing them in that exact same costume four years ago in Basement Arts and to think how much we’re gone through in the past four years is just beautiful. During “Everything Ends,” it was just being able to look at everyone and see them being back in those costumes, especially. Once I put on that ridiculous red wig, like, “This is where it all began! Stupid Sister wig, oh boy, here we go again!” It’s almost like going back and putting on your baby clothes and seeing if they still fit and it’s strange that they kind of do still fit. But inevitably it brings you back to a specific time and place. That was strange.
It was very quiet backstage, but it wasn’t so much quiet for the fact that we were just not speaking, it was a very somber quiet and I think everyone was just taking in every single moment because we finally knew this was the end. It’s making me sad, honestly, talking about it, because it was a very touching day and it has a special place in my heart and again, it’s about the friendships and the journey we’ve been on together. It was very bittersweet.
All of you seemed very emotional during and after the performance, it was quite palpable.
Yeah. It goes back to the core people who were in the original one. I think it was the most surreal for us because we never intended this to go to where it was. Doing the show represented a time in our lives when things were a certain way. It’s just like travelling back in time, it was weird. I can’t explain it any other way. It’s like if you ever go back to your old elementary school and you get those same feelings that you had when you were a kid, even when you’re older. It’s probably the closest thing we’ll ever have to time travel. In that case, it was very weird and it was very sad. I’m not going to lie, I was crying, we all were; it was a mess. But it was beautiful and it was strange and it was hard. I don’t like to think about it so much because it does make me very sad.
Who are you most proud of, in regards to pulling off the show?
Just the whole team. I’m so impressed with Yonit [Olshan] and June [Saito] and Corey [Lubowich], and all the people doing the set and Sarah Petty with the lighting. They’re the unsung heroes of StarKid. All the costume work – there were wardrobe malfunctions happening all over the place and costume changes – that’s the other thing, we were doing a stage reading and there were freaking costume changes. What always impresses me, the thing I always like to remind anyone who sees our shows, is StarKid is more than just the actors and there are a bunch of behind-the-scenes people that are involved that have been with us for just as long as anyone else and everyone working together is how this all happens. There’s no single person that makes the show happen and that’s what’s so beautiful. Just seeing everyone thrive at their talent no matter what it is or what aspect it is.
Did you have a favourite character or performance?
There are so many people, I can’t even remember. I mean, A.J. Holmes did a great job as Gilderoy. Britney Coleman freaking belts her face off all the time and she’s so talented. She’s amazing. I don’t know! I’m really proud of Joey [Richter] for his solo. I don’t like to pick favourites because I’m really proud of Corey and Sarah for their lighting work and I really think it’s about us working together and I’m proud of the team for working together because without one person doing their job, the whole show would have been a mess. It’s all of us together.
Was there any moment in putting on the show where it seemed like a serious problem was going to prevent things from happening?
Sound was an issue. It’s incredible that Mark [Swiderski] was able to figure out the sound. Again, we were doing a show in a hotel. We had to use these live mics and you’ve probably heard about the peeing debacle with the mics, right? We were told we shouldn’t go to the bathroom because it was constantly going to be on, little things like that, so you had to just find it out and say, “Okay. If that’s the rule, that’s what it is.” Nothing really shocked me – to be honest, a lot of the things we do in StarKid do kind of come together magically and it’s part of the journey. The process itself is fun and a crazy experience. At the same time it’s stressful; it’s also really fun because that’s the magic of theatre. Stuff can look like it’s not going to work out and then it magically does.
What has the Very Potter experience meant to you as a whole? Is there anything that you’d go back and say to yourself in 2009, when you were putting on A Very Potter Musical and were not aware of what was about to happen?
I’m not the kind of person who has regrets about things, or wishes that I did something differently because I really believe that the stars align no matter what and so I think there’s no way I would have done it differently or anything I would have said to myself. I think none of us could have predicted and we still can’t even predict what will happen. You always kind of feel like your biggest achievement is behind you anyway – I’m always of the opinion of living for the moment.
I’m notorious, especially among our friend group, for thinking – even on the first day – being ultra-vigilant and aware that everything’s going to end soon anyway. For instance, when we went on tour, on the first night of tour I was like, “You guys! Tour’s almost over!” and so I guess when I die one day I’ll be able to say I lived in the moment throughout the whole experience of StarKid, because I always get really sappy. It’s shocking, there’s nothing you can predict but you can also never predict anything in life. I’m just happy to be along for the ride.
Obviously the Very Potter series is really what started you guys out in the public eye, so does saying goodbye to Potter feel like the ending of a book in the StarKid story, or the ending of a first chapter?
It’s hard to say what ends. Stuff goes out with a whimper rather than a bang, anyway. Part of me doesn’t doubt that when we’re all 90 years old we’re going to be be singing “Going Back to Hogwarts” in the same nursing home. I doubt it’ll be the end of anything but I’m proud of people for pursuing their own independent projects, and I’d like everyone to pursue outside interests and transform and become the people that they always wanted to be. So that’s exciting. I think the future is bright for all of us. Except for Darren.
Yeah, his life sucks.
I know, right? Poor kid. I think that the future is really bright for everyone. It’s exciting here.
We want to hear your thoughts on this topic!
Write a comment below or submit an article to Hypable.